The Study Of Qin And Han Dynasty Warriors Figurine

Recently, warriors of Qin Dynasty and Western Han Dynasty have been greatly discovered and were categorized into three groups as follows:infantry (class A), chariot (class B) and cavalry (class C). Meanwhile, each group can be re-defined according to different positions of the warriors in the army and various kinds of weapons. Based upon the careful analysis of typology, as mentioned above, in the first place, this thesis focuses on the different combination of warriors, space and time varieties and their reasons in both Qin and Western Han Dynasty. Thus, warriors in the army have evolved from the combination of infantry, chariot and cavalry in Qin Dynasty into the combination of infantry and cavalry. Moreover, cavalry has isolated from the main army in Western Han Dynasty into an independent combat unit with two different types of tactics. The age difference of the warriors figures’ development stems from their functions and tactics; while the spacial difference mainly comes from the layout and properties of the warriors figures in both Qin and Western Han Dynasty.Secondly, along with the discovery of buried warriors, this thesis has further studied its reason and significance. Thus, those buried warriors in both Warring States and Shang Dynasty were the origin of the buried-warriors custom later. Its reason and significance mainly stem from five aspects:1. An embodiment of the ancient Chinese thinking "the dead is as important as the living"; 2.The protection and symbol of the tomb owners’power; 3. A further inheritance of the buried warriors in Shang Dynasty; 4. A reflection of the corresponding military equipment and strategy; 5. A great manifestation of the social and economic situation, the artistic atmosphere, and the artisan competence of the pottery production.Finally, based upon the system of the buried warriors, this thesis has made great effort to analyze the composition, forms and reasons of wars before Western Han Dynasty. In a word, from late Shang Dynasty to the period of Spring and Autumn, both chariot and its wars keep in an overwhelming position; from the period of Warring States to Qin Dynasty, it has witnessed a comprehensive development of infantry, cavalry and chariot, especially the cooperation between infantry and cavalry; starting from Western Han Dynasty, chariot seemed to decline and vanish unexpectedly while cavalry stepped into a fully-developed stage. Reasons of these phenomena stem from four aspects as follows:1. Change of the wars’ target. 2. Well-developed infrastructure; 3. Fully-awareness of the industry of horse-keeping; 4. The development of the combat tactics of cavalry and its application.